A variety of knee braces are known in the art for treating a variety of conditions of the knee. One condition is unicompartmental osteoarthritis, where one compartment side of the knee joint is deteriorated. To treat this condition with a knee brace requires a brace construction that is configured to urge the femur and tibia apart on the affected side of the knee.
One example brace system for treating unicompartmental osteoarthritis is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,277,698. In this brace system, torsional strapping is used in conjunction with a rigid bracing member to provide forces to separate the affected compartment. One problem with this brace system is that it is difficult to reproducibly wrap the straps into the proper therapeutic position to reproducibly apply the same amount of force that is needed. U.S. Pat. No. 5,302,169 describes a rigid knee bracing member that could, if properly configured with appropriate strapping, be used to affect the therapeutic forces needed to treat unicompartmental osteoarthritis. That patent likewise does not describe any way to adjustably apply a different amount of force nor any method for reproducibly doing the same each time the brace is donned.
There remains a need in the art for orthotic devices generally, and for knee braces particularly, where the same amount of force can be easily and adjustably applied to affect a therapeutic benefit, and which can be reproducibly applied, detected and indicated, each time the brace is donned.